Every family who has a son or
daughter in post-secondary education knows that the weekend before holiday time
always is reserved for the trek to school, home for the break, and back again.
Sometimes the “can’t wait to see them” feeling is tempered by week’s end when
it’s “hurry up, we have to get going” in a push to regain your own space!
Students who study at a
campus far from home often feel isolated from family and friends. Using Skype™
or face time technology is helpful – though sometimes wistful for all when it’s
time to sign off. The family car is packed tight with treats and more than the
basic necessities when the drive is To School, but sometimes the Coming Home
trip is a tight fit as well.
I know a Dad who makes a
nearly ten hour trek several times a year into what must feel like a different
world altogether. From skidding slushy city driving to twelve-foot snow banks,
barely two lanes and those dicey at best. The daughter, on campus, shares a
house with three other girls – each of whom has a pet, or two. “Dad’s ark” as
he calls it rides light on the trip north, but is laden heavily for the trip
south.
Amid the luggage, foodstuffs
for the trip, and probably some laundry are two cats in a crate, a goldfish
named Marley and a hamster with plenty of kilometers under his paws!
If the weather holds and the
roads are passable and the trip uneventful, this Dad will make the drive North
beginning Friday after work and then back to the city on Saturday, leaving
before Noon to hit home before midnight. These are the unsung heroes of all
students whose destination is home for the holidays – true Survivor men!
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